Hi everyone! How is your anime viewing this fall season? I'm pretty much behind in what I want to watch ;A; But I want to make it up to you guys! For this season, I chose to follow Kimi ni Todoke! X3Our lead female is Kuronuma Sawako -- known in her high school as "Sadako" (Nicknamed after Sadako from the Ring). In her high school, a lot of rumors are floating around that if a person looks at her, or does something bad to her, something bad will happen to the person -- which is probably just coincidences that just happen at the wrong time. There are also rumors that she can summon ghosts.Because of these rumors, Sawako was pretty infamous in the school, that doesn't let her win lots of friends -- her shy and quiet demeanor makes her unable to speak her mind freely and so people usually have apologized and ran away before hearing what she wants to say.One person in particular though, actually is not afraid of her, but is friendly to her: Kazehaya Shota. He is more or less the popular kid in school. Sawako idolizes him for being very friendly with others and how other people seem to get along with him very well.Sawako idolizes Kazehaya greatly since he somehow attracts friendliness with other people with his seemingly easy going attitude. Sawako remembers the first time she met Kazehaya, when she pointed out directions to their school. Kazehaya thanked her, and Sawako was very happy because it was the first time that anyone had thanked her, instead of running away in fear.During homeroom, Kazehaya said that he was organizing a test of courage for the class, and had left the signup sheet in the classroom bulletin board. Also, their homeroom teacher wanted to assign the student who would assist during summer vacation -- after seeing that no one wanted to volunteer, Sawako raised her hand. After hearing murmurs in the class about being relieved that Sawako ended up with the job, Kazehaya questioned the assignment, saying that she always ends up with the jobs that no one wanted to take. The teacher then appoints Kazehaya, but Sawako asked for the job again, while being joyful that Kazehaya noticed what she was doing for the class.After homeroom, one of Sawako's friends, Shino-chan asked Sawako if she was getting along with her classmates since she doesn't have old schoolmates there. Sawako mentions Kazehaya and Shino-chan recognized him as the "lively person" but Sawako mentions that "lively person" was an understatement and that he's liveliness personified. While saying this though, Kazehaya heard this and asked how should he interpret it. Sawako says that he should take it as a compliment.Kazehaya found this amusing, and laughed. He then told Sawako that he's going outside to Sawako.Kazehaya told Sawako that he thought that Sawako didn't like him. Sawako told him that it was the complete opposite and she always wanted to be as lively as Kazehaya. He got embarrassed with what she said and said that he wasn't as lively as she thinks, but Sawako goes on and says that he is very lively and it's even in his name. Kazehaya points out that Sawako should speak for herself, and said her name.Sawako was happy at the time because it was the first time that anyone called her by her name, as well as she thinks that it's the first time that she was able to clear a misunderstanding. Kazehaya told her that she was able to say what's in her mind when she tried. Kazehaya then ended the conversation by saying that she should be go to the class event.After school, Ayane-chan (Yano Ayane) and Chizu-chan (Yoshida Chizuru) were talking about Sawako and that if she does go to the test of courage, she would be a perfect ghost. Sawako, who was going to put her name in secret, asked if she could volunteer as the ghost. At first, the two were discouraged since Sawako seemed forced into it, but Sawako tells them that she didn't volunteer for anything she doesn't want to do. Sawako then proceeds to tell them that she cannot see or summon ghosts. Ayane laughed because it took Sawako that long to be able to tell them that but Chizu on the other hand felt moved by this.On the night of the test of courage, Sawako was very successful in scaring everyone in the class. Sawako was happy that she was a good ghost, and was useful to everyone. When at one point, Kazehaya comes into the forest alone. Kazehaya told Sawako that he thought she wasn't going, and there was an odd number in the participants, so everyone told him that he should be going alone.Ayane and Chizu dropped by to see Sawako, and after that, Kazehaya says that Sawako was starting to open up to others. Sawako thanks Kazehaya because she felt that she wouldn't have had the courage to open up if it wasn't for him.The next day, during class, Kazehaya was announced as the loser for the test of courage since he wasn't able to finish it (although I don't get how that was), and says that the penalty for it was to date Sawako for a week, because there were rumors that Sawako was hitting on him during the test of courage. Kazehaya refused this because he thinks that it's very mean to date a girl as a punishment.Sawako, on the other hand, didn't want Kazehaya to defend her further, because he might get a bad reputation, so she told the class that she only admired Kazehaya and there was nothing romantic between them.The next day, as Sawako was going to school, she was contemplating that Kazehaya might not talk to her again, and was sad -- but then she saw Kazehaya on the way, telling her that the class apologized for what they did, and that Sawako didn't understand how Kazehaya felt towards her. The episode concludes with Kazehaya wondering if his true feelings would reach Sawako someday.I personally fell in love with the series after watching this episode! Especially because Sawako didn't really fall into the typical shoujo leading girl stereotype. I really want to see how Sawako's character would continue to grow in the next episodes! I also loved Ayane's and Chizu-chan's personalities! Kazehaya, on the other hand fits quite well into the popular guy stereotype although I'm relieved that he isn't molded as the "perfect student". As much as the story itself seems like the "Shy girl gets together with popular guy" type, I think it's going to be a good series!
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